Such technology will automate the kitchen so that fridges order groceries from the supermarket, washing machines e-mail the repair service when they break down and a whole lot more besides. “Homes are trying to jump ahead to high technology, based on computer and Internet technology,” says Peter Colebrook, intelligent systems architect for Integer. “The three things of significance will be smart linking of white goods, optimising of energy usage, and the ability to go outside the home and operate heating and lighting.”
Laing Homes is already testing the capabilities of the Internet with a prototype house, developed with Cisco Systems, at a site in Watford. The house is equipped with such features as a barcode scanner in the kitchen that will e-mail an order for groceries to the supermarket when you are running low on provisions, and home occupants can also control their central heating from outside their home. Laing joint managing director Paul Healey says the £3000 bill for exhaustive smart links could easily be trimmed to £1000. “It’s not a bolt-on, it’s an added value item and if you look forward to who our market will be in a few years’ time, it would come very high up their agenda.”
Certainly the domestic appliances will be ready. Electrolux expects to launch its first “Screenfridge” product next year, and it is also testing pay-as-you-use for appliances like washing machines whereby home occupants will be charged a set fee for each wash, including detergent and electricity, thanks to e-monitoring. Next year also see the launch by Ariston of its Leon@rdo integrated messaging and kitchen system which allows home occupants to download cooking instructions for a recipe directly from the Internet, and to download new wash programmes into a washing machine.
Cyber-appliances’ impact is likely to reach beyond users and makers. On-line supermarket chains could offer fridges free of charge to secure a householder’s custom, as air-time providers do today with mobile phones.
US housebuilder Estridge Homes is even exploiting the potential of the Internet by establishing an allied company, E.Com, as an Internet service provider to its housing schemes, as well as a provider of other utilities including security monitoring, telephone and cable television. “Why do we give away easements to utilities?” argues Charlie Scott, executive vice- president of Estridge, pointing to how such business provides a foil to homebuying’s cyclical weakness. “By becoming an Internet service provider we become regarded as a whole different company on the Stock Exchange, and each house could be a cash register for us. It’s an opportunity for us to revolutionise the way we do business, and it could allow us to reduce the price of a home by 10%.”
Source
Building Homes
